Bristol Old Vic has apologised to customers after a live stream of the “hit show of the decade” from Manchester’s Lowry theatre was hit by technical glitches. Some theatre fans who had paid to watch the acclaimed new play Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead found themselves staring at a screen saying “safety curtain”.
Ahead of the performance Bristol Old Vic told customers that even if they had seen in the play based on a book by Nobel Prize-winning author Olga Tokarczuk’s novel it was still worth tuning into the live stream because the company had a few surprises in store for them.
And the audience who settled down in front of their screens at home last night, expecting to see a play about members of a local hunting club living in a small community near the Czech-Polish border dying in mysterious circumstances, were certainly surprised to see nothing but the safety curtain logo.
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Theatre technicians had paused the streaming to try and sort out some problems and staff tweeted: “We're sorry for the continuing technical difficulties with the Drive Your Plow Live Broadcast - the show is currently paused, and our team are working as quickly as possible to rectify the issue. Hold tight, as the broadcast should be working again soon.”
Some were not amused and one tweeted: “After waiting for 75 minutes, refreshing and re-entering my code several times I have now lost the will to watch the show altogether. Thanks for trying but no cigar …”
Even after they managed to get the play up and running customers still complained of lagging and the sound being out of sync with the images. Most were understanding and appreciated the Old Vic’s promise to make sure they could watch the play glitch free at a future date.
The theatre tweeted: “We’re so sorry for the disappointment this evening to all watching the Drive Your Plow Live Broadcast. We will be sending a recording of the show to everyone affected to watch at a time convenient to them.”
Most of the audience who replied seemed supportive. “It happens. Servers, satellites, etc can be a pain,” replied one theatre goer.
"These things happen. Can’t wait to see the recording," tweeted another. Another audience member tweeted: “Thank you so much! Glad the problem has been resolved and I'm looking forward to watching the recording!"
And more customers came forward saying they hadn't realised it was on and wanted to buy recordings. "Thank you @Complicite and @BristolOldVic for a wonderful evening 'at the theatre'. It may have been a little late and a little glitchy but it was worth every minute."
The news will come as a disappointment to academics. Some members of the audience were supposed to be taking part in research on what makes theatre so good.
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